I probably should have started this thread a few years ago. Not sure if someone has started one like it but i felt that there should be a dedicated thread strictly for vintage home bars that folks had back in the 40's,50's,60's and 70's - living in the midwest i happen across at least one or two estate sales that feature full on rec room basement tiki bars and one i went to today really inspired me to start this. These basement bars need to be documented because so many times the new home owners raze the basement bar in favor of more conservative decor. Once these are destroyed they are gone forever and they represent an important historical link for all of us current tikiphiles. With that, let me go download some pics and get them posted here for all to see.

Feel free to add any pics you may have of VINTAGE basement bars only, not your current home tiki room. Sometimes the only pics we might have available are from estate sale listings so feel free to post those as well if you happen across them.

here are pics from the listing. I have since taken many more and will post those shortly. This house has currently been sold. None of the tiki decor or anything on the walls was for sale. It goes with the house, but all the
bamboo furniture as well as the smalls, were up for grabs.

Wow!! That's an awesome space. I remember my Aunt's basement in the early seventies. If I remember right it was an orange, orange and orange color scheme. They had a bar with the requisite Naugahyde stools and bar front and a single bowling lane. I may be able to dig up some photos. My current basement bar was purpose built when the house was built around 1950. The original tile floor is still there and has an inlaid shuffle board on both sides of the space. I even have the original pucks and sticks. The twelve foot bar top is still graced by four original Arthur Uminov bar stools. I think the house is happy that the bar remains the same. I have never changed the bare bones of the bar only added in some vintage Tiki flavor. My wife has friends that as of late still had a sixties full on western theme in the basement complete with the full size whiskey barrel bar, bar stools, table chairs and even the couch. There are still a few of these hidden treasures still buried just under someones house but they are getting rare.
_________________"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann

Great thread Tipsy. Wow...that last picture sure is beautiful...great bar and stools. You are always a wealth of knowledge so looking forward to more posts here...nice trip back in time.
_________________ "Oh waiter, another cocktail please!!!"

here's the update on that tiki room i posted pics of. I was fortunate enough to get into the space after the sale and salvage all the painted murals. The murals are signed and dated 1956. The house was built in 1954 so it wasn't long before the original owners went tiki in terms of the decor. The murals were painted on old particle board which makes them light weight but fragile. The largest ones are 4ft by 8ft, the smaller ones are about half that. For now, i plan i keeping them in hope that i can use some or all of them. Otherwise, i have a friend that has been threatening to open a new tiki bar here and these might look good on the walls framed out in bamboo. I didn't want to see these destroyed and they certainly would have ended up in the dumpster with the rest of the bamboo and stuff. Everything else in the place was demo-ed and tossed. The new owners had other plans for that space which didn't included a tiki room but they were thrilled that i was salvaging them and would put them to good use some day. here's pics of some of the salvage i did.